What Eckhart Tolle means by "Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness"
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Eckart Tolle is a German spiritual teacher and speaker who suffered from depression for several years before finding himself awakened (to the simple joy of being [alive]). Following his awakening, Eckhart Tolle chose to leave the PhD program he had until then been enrolled in, and instead spent a period of two years in a state of deep enjoyment of life, spending most days observing life from park benches, fully immersed in each moment. Eventually, he began writing and speaking of his learnings, dedicating himself to the path of teaching others how to unlock their own joy of being (alive) through the power of mindfulness.
Throughout his career, Eckhart Tolle has authored many books (most famously The Power of Now) and led many workshops, producing a prolific number of quotes along the way. Many of Eckhart Tolle’s quotes are simple and profound, but can at first glance be quite puzzling and difficult to understand.
For instance – in his book, A New Earth: Awakening to your life’s purpose, Eckhart Tolle writes the following:
“Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful for the evolution of your consciousness. How do you know this is the experience you need? Because this is the experience you are having at the moment”
So what does this quote mean?
Reading the book will give you the broader context of this quote as well as provide other lessons that may help connect the dots. For me, reading the book a couple times while spending time in nature after a big shift in my own life was the best way to come to a better understanding of this quote.
Put briefly, what Eckhart Tolle means is:
“Your consciousness will evolve when you stop thinking and simply focus your awareness on being fully present, right now in this moment.”
What Eckhart Tolle is saying is that there is no special moment in the future that will awaken your evolved consciousness. You don’t need to meditate for 4 hours, or to read the Bhagavad Gita, or become a monk or ascetic, or give away your material possessions, or create any other special moment. Eckhart Tolle means that it is possible in every and any moment of your life to awaken and evolve your consciousness.
“This moment right now is all you need to evolve your consciousness.”
In the end, there is nothing that you can “do” to become enlightened. Enlightenment arises from “being,” not “doing.”
If you still don’t understand how any old moment can evolve your consciousness, then try looking at it from this angle:
The key to evolving your consciousness is, in a word: presence. To be present means to let go of resisting or desiring to control life, and to simply be present in each moment of life. When you can do this, you have taken your first step in evolving your consciousness.
So what does it mean to be present?
To be fully here and now in the present moment requires us to let go of thoughts that revolve around trying, seeking, wishing, ruminating, regretting, labeling, judging, or anything else which takes us away from the present moment. When we focus our awareness on the past or future, we focus on there being a “right” way to be, or a “right” way the course of our lives should go. We sink into an obsession with wanting something other than what we have or who we are, and wanting to escape the present moment. This desire for something other than our present moment is what keeps us from evolving.
You taste the evolution of your consciousness when you:
Let go of your disappointment that you are not yet “successful” or “validated”
Stop doing things only in order to achieve or become something that will finally make you happy
Accept that you don’t yet have what you want and acknowledge that you don’t need those things to be at peace or fulfilled
Let go of wishing that you weren’t born a certain way
Allow an angry, sad, fearful, anxious, stressful, or upsetting emotion wash over you when they arise, and don’t immediately follow them up with thoughts that take up the energy of that emotion
You can also taste the evolution of your consciousness when you:
Lose track of time in something you enjoy doing, like painting or reading
Stop to smell the flowers, watch the grass blades wave in the wind, or take in a sunset
Engage all of your senses when drinking coffee
Become enveloped by music and dance like nobody's watching
Wash the dishes slowly and with full attentiveness on every movement
Listen fully to what someone else is saying, without thinking of what you will say next
Simply let your fingers write what they will, without consciously thinking of what to say to be profound or witty
Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-gray-bird-on-the-bag-of-brown-and-black-pig-swimming-on-the-beach-during-daytime-66258/
Eckhart Tolle says that life will give you what you need to evolve, because life doesn’t give you experiences for any particular reason, and you can evolve at any point. Every moment is just another moment in an endless series of moments; the present moment is not good or bad, but simply “is.” Life is as life does, so there is no reason to label any part of life as right or wrong, good or bad. When you can free yourself from thinking that there is a specific moment in life which will grant you something you do have, but need, then you can appreciate all moments in life, no matter what they are, and be fully present in any moment. To see this truth is to evolve.
Now, while there is no perfect moment to allow us to evolve, there are certain moments that are more likely to cause us to evolve. These are moments of pain, suffering, or confusion; Eckhart Tolle’s own awakening came after a prolonged depression, after all.
The reason that these “negative” moments are those where we are more likely to gain clarity and evolve is because these are the moments when we are most likely to give up and let go of thinking we need something we don’t have. In rock bottom or painful moments, we finally give up the game of chasing after things we think we need, which is the game of ego. We finally let go of the idea that the past prevents us from being happy in the present, or that we need to do something now to be happy in the future. Thus, after moments of pain, we are more likely to see beyond the illusion of ego, and finally start being at peace with, fulfilled by, or enjoying the present, every second of every day.
Hopefully this helps with your journey to a more peaceful, happy, and fulfilling life. Remember: you already are who you need to be. Just accept who you are – whoever and whatever that is – and be fully present from that moment forward, and your life will unfold in all sorts of meaningful ways that you could never have imagined.
Curious for more breakdowns of mindfulness guru quotes? Check out What Alan Watts means by "trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth."